Skinning knife



R. BLADES SKINNING KNIFE Filed Aug. 21, 1922 lit) Patented @ct. 9, i223.

SKINNING KNIFE.

Application filed August 21, 1922. Serial No. 583.197.

To all 717710772 it may com com e it known that 1', ROBERT l LADES, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Skinning Knife; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the nun'icrals of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a knife such as is disclosed in my application Serial No. 551,926 for a skinning knife, filed itpril 12th, 1922.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means by which the blade in such a knife may be quickly protruded into a suit able position for honing or grinding and quickly returned to its normal. position for use.

It is a further object of this invention to provide means for adjusting the position of the knife within the housing whereby the wear of the knife through use and grinding may be compensated by proper adjustment of the projection of the blade from the housing.

It is further the object of this invention to provide means for preventing thefinid,

from leaking from the housing back toward the handle of the knife.

It is a further object of this invention to provide auneans whereby, when the knife is returned to using position after having been protruded for grinding, it shall be sccurelyheld in said position.

It is a further object of this invention to provide more convenient means for attaching the knife to a hose.

Other and further important objects of this invention, will be. apparent from the disclosures in the specification and drawings.

The invention (in a preferred form) is illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter more fully described.

On the drawings:

Figure l is a side view of the knife.

Figure 2 is a back view of the knife.

Figure 3 is a section upon the line 83 of Figure 2.

Figure l is a section upon the line l-:l; of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a section upon the line 55 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a section upon the line 6,(3 of Figure 8.

Figure 7 is a section upon the line 77 on an enlarged scale, only that portion of the knife near the edge being shown.

Asshown on the drawings:

The knife is supplied with a casting 10 which consists of a combined handle and housing. The handle is hollow as shown at ll for the reception of the end of a hose 12 which is provided with any suitable screw fixture. The casting is provided with screw threads 13 for the reception of this fixture, and the sides of the handle are provided with holes 14 through which the fixture may be readily reached for screwing, it into or removing it from the threads 13. The threads l3 are situated at the rear end of a conduit 15 which leads from the hose 12 to the interior of the housing surrounding the blade, as explained in the above mentioned application.

The blade is positioned within the housing by means of spacing lugs 17 and 18 which are shown in dotted lines in Figure Through the blade 1.9 and each set of the spacing lugs 17 goes a screw 20, the head of which is seated in a countersunk recess 21 in the outer face of one side of the housing. in the other side of the housing is a threaded hole for the reception of the threaded end of the screw.

By tightening the screw 20, the lugs 17 may be made to contact with a blade 22 with any desired degree of friction. The lugs 18 at the end of the housing are not provided with such grooves as they are too near the back of the housing to enable the motion which must accompany the above described tightening to occur. The blade is provided with slots 23 through which the screws pass. These, slots are not paral lel to one another but make an angle so that the motion of the blade in sliding over the screws is not a straight line motion but a sort of swinging motion.

Extending rearwardly from the blade is a shank 24 at the end of which is a hole for a screw 25. This screw enters a post. 26 to do which it passes through a slot 27 in the sleeve 28 which lines the oblique hole in the casting 10 provided for the post 26. The outer surface of the casting is provided with a dove-tailed groove 29 in which is slidably mounted a traveller 30. In order to provide sufiicient depth for this groove so that it will properly accommodate the traveller, shoulders 31 are provided upon the casting 10 but even with the extra thickness afiorded by these shoulders the bottom of the groove 29 is separated from the sleeve 20 by a very thin wall 32 which is a part of the casting 10. The post 26 has its upper end threaded as shown at 33 and an upper portion 8 1- is screwed onto this end. This por tion. is provided with a slot 35 in its upper end by means of which it may be rotated with a'screw driver or similar tool to adjust the position of the post 26 and so of the blade 22. The upper portion of 34L of the post is provided with a groove 36 which receives the inner end of a screw 37 which is threaded into the traveller 30. The upper side of the groove 36 is bordered by a collar 38 which affords a shoulder against which the lining 39 of the upper part of the sleeve 28 bears. The sleeve 28 fits tightly in the hole provided in the casting 10 and the lining 39 fits tightly in the sleeve 28. Accidental movement of either the sleeve or the lining is thus prevented by friction and leakage from the passage 15 into the hole containing the post 26 is prevented by the tight tit 01 the sleeve. The sleeve 28 and the thin wall 32 oi? the casting 10 are provided with registering slots 40 through which the screw 37 extends and in which the screw travels during the movement of the traveller 30.

The lower end of the sleeve 28 opens into an arched n arrow opening ll which contains the shank 24 and the arrangements for moving it. To protect the space 41 from the fluid in the passage 15 and the housing surrounding the blade, a packing is provided. For this purpose oblique holes are made in the casting 10 and lined with bushings 41-2. The bushings may, if desired, extend below the lower surface of the casting as shown in Figure 6 and also in Figure 1. Preteably, the bushings 42 are of some flexible material such as rubber and are reinforced by other flexible material within them a is shown at 41-3. The blade 22 where it joins the shank 21- passes between the bushings 4:2 and compresses them and the reinforcement 48 thus making a tight joint between the bushings and the blade so that leakage is prevented, and chattering and movement of the blade is also prevented.

In the operation of the device, when the user desires to connect the hose 12 with the instrument, the end of the hose with its fixture is inserted into the hollow 11. This brings the knurled surface 45 opposite the holes 14: so that the operator may use his thumb and forefinger, one upon each side of the handle, to turn. the fixture and screw it into the threads 1?). Suitable stop cock provided at any point in the length of the hose 12 being opened, fluid passes through the passage 15 and into the interior of the housing from whence it emerges around the edge of the blade through the openings 46 as explained in the above mentioned application.

When the knite has become dull it is not necessary to remove the blade for grinding, but the same may be projected from the housing a sufficient distance to enable it to be ground by thrusting the traveller 3L) downward in Figure 1. This causes the screw 37 to move downward and so moves the post 26 downward thus moving the shank 24;. The blade 22 is guided in its movement by the slots 23 and by the contact or the post 26 with the sleeve 28. The angles be tween these three guides are so designed that the blade is projected with a swinging motion and each part of the curved edge comes far enough out of the housing to enable the whole edge to be ground. As the blade wears away through use and repeated grinding, it is necessary that the retracted portion of it be adjusted so that the edge will project from the housing the correct amount at all times. This adjustment 1S effected by turning the upper part of the post 26 by means of the screw driver slot As illustrated in Figure 4-, this adjustment is at the extreme position which it would occupy with a new or full-sized blade.

Rotating the part 3% causes the threaded end 33 of the post 26 to travel outwardly in the socket in the lower end of the part 3 1. The collar 38 and the tight lining 39 prevent motion of the part 3 1 upward. Consequently, the post 26 is obliged to travel downward and so moves the shank 24 downward. This moves the post and blade relative to the traveller 30 because this traveller is held still by the engagement of the screw 37 in the groove 36. Thus, although the position of the blade is adjusted, the position of the head of the screw 37 by which the workman would move the traveller remains unaltered. 7

It is unnecessary to loosen the screws 20 before projecting the traveller downward since it they are properly adjusted, they will permit the blade to slide freely enough for such intentional projection of it. If, however, the screws through accident or lack of skill or intentionally have been tightened so much that the traveller 30 cannot be moved, it requires only a moment to loosen them when it is desired to project the blade for sharpening. When the screws 20 are at the right degree of tightness, the friction of the blade against the lugs 17 and of the post 26 against the sleeve 28 and of the traveller 30 against the sides of the groove 29 will be sufiicient to hold the blade in retracted posi- Jun tion. This friction is suflieient for this purpose because in the use of the knife, the pressure of the work against the edge is in the direction to force the blade toward the illustrated position and not to cause it to project. Moreover, in grasping the handle, the workmans fingers come against the lower end or: the traveller 30 and prevent its accidental movement downward. it however, there should be any likelihood of the blade being accidentally projected through its use for unusual work or in the hands 01 an unskilled man, the blade could be certainly retained in retracted position by tightening the screws 21.

I am aware that numerous details of construction maybe varied through a wide range without departing tromthe principles of this invention, and I therefore do not purpose limiting the patent granted other-- wise than necessitated by the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a knife, a casting comprising a handle and a blade housing, a conduit through said handle to said housing, a supply pipe for said knife, a threaded fixture connecting said pipe with said conduit, the handle being provided with orifices whereby the fixture is readily reached for screwing or unscrewing.

2. In a device of the class described, a blade, a housing surrounding said blade, means for conducting fluid to the interior of said. housing, a blade adjusting mechanism, and fluid-tight means separating said housing from said blade adjusting mechanism.

3. In a device of the class described, a blade, a handle for the blade, a traveller slidably mounted on the handle for altering the position 01" the blade relatively to the handle, and an adjustable connection between the traveller and blade.

l. in a device of the class described, a blade, a handle, a housing connected to handle and surrounding said blade, said blade having slots and said housing having screws passing through said slots, means for moving said blade relative to said handle, said slots being non-parallel whereby said moving means will. protrude a certain portion of the blade in a different direction from another portion.

5. In combination, a hollow housing, a hollow handle, a cutting instrument having its blade portion within the housing, said handle having a recess, means in the recess for moving the blade, a connection between said means and said blade, and a packing contacting said connection and located between said recess and said housing.

6. lln a skinning kni'le, a housing, a blade within said housing, the edge of said blade projecting beyond said housing, and manually operated means for causing said edge to project further :lrom said housing and for retracting said blade after such additional projection.

i In a cutting instrument, a blade, a cast ing including a housing surrounding said blade, said casting having a hole oblique to the length oil? the blade, a member slidably mounted in said hole, a connection between said. blade and said slidable member, an actuating means slidably mounted on the exterior of said casting, and an adjustable connection between said last-mentioned means and the member.

8. in con'ibination, a blade, a handle for said blade, a shank extending from said blade into said handle, said handle having a hole, a post mounted in the lower part of said hole, a connection between said shank and said post, a member rotatably mounted in the upper part of said hole, an obstacle in the wall of said hole and preventing upward movement of said member, a screw connection between said post and Said member, and means actuated from outside of the handle tor moving said member and post axially of said hole, said member having means accessible from outside the handle by which it may be rotated.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT BLADES. l l itnesses CARLTON HILL, ()sciin HARTMANN.

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